Mick McCarthy will make use of the international break from Premiership football to put in intensive work on the training ground with his players.

Mick McCarthy will make use of the international break from Premiership football to put in intensive work on the training ground with his players.

After today's game at West Ham, the fixture calendar is blank until April 5, which gives the new Sunderland boss the chance to get to know his players better.

McCarthy has only been in charge at the Stadium of Light for 10 days and two matches, and is looking forward to the short break which will also afford some of his injured players time to recover.

He said: "The break will be good from the point of view of giving me a chance to work with the players at length, although quite a few will be away on international duty.

"More importantly, it will give players a chance to recover from injuries.

"Jason McAteer, Stephen Wright and Jody Craddock were out of action today at West Ham and they have a chance to get themselves right for the Chelsea game in two weeks' time."

Kevin Kilbane, Thomas Sorensen, George McCartney, Kevin Kyle, Talal El Karkouri, Sean Thornton, Cliff Byrne and Thomas Butler, however, will all be representing their countries in a busy week of international football at senior and under-21 levels.

McCarthy now finds himself on the other side of the fence after six years as Republic of Ireland boss, but he insists he has no problem with players going away to play for their countries.

He said: "Playing for your country is the highest accolade you can have and I am not going to stop them.

"I always took immense pride in representing Ireland, whether as a player or as manager, and when players are called up for their countries they will go with my blessing.

"There will be times around friendly games when players have knocks or injuries or have a big game two days later - as an international manager I accepted that. But when it's competitive football, it is different.

"I think players come back better players.

"Playing with and against better players definitely has a positive impact on you."

NSUNDERLAND'S reserve clash with Manchester United at Durham's Archibald's Stadium on Monday (7.00) is all-ticket.

Tickets are free to season ticket holders on production of voucher 45 at the ticket office.